USAID Ba Distrito coorporate with ARKTL to Dispense Information

USAID funded by BA Distrito proram, ARKTL and our members have cooperate to dispense information in 4 municipalities (Liquica, Ermera, Suai,Baucau) and the special administrative region of oecusse about decentralization, ZEESM, and suco elections and to give the training to the community radio journalist about these topics.

As a trainer, Felix Da Silva, when interviewed by ARKTL team, said that generally the training in 4 municipalities and special administrative region of oecusse was well done. He said “it was obvious to see that participant in the training were interested to gain more information on the topics such as decentralization and the establishment of special administrative region/Special Economic Zone (ZEESM) of Oecusse-Ambeno. i have also noted from the result of pre-test conducted before and after training that participants are better aware of the changes in Timor-Leste’s decentralization process and the new regional government structure in Oecusse after taking part in training provided by the team of ARKTL and Ba Distrito. However, there is always a room for improvement”. He added ” it would have been more helpful for participants to learn more if they were provided more references such as copies of relevant government document or legislation”.

Mr Da Silva said “the training was targeting the local journalist in the municipios/special administrative region, particularly volunteer journalist at local community radio stations. As such, it was to provide local journalist some basics and important information on decentralization and ZEESM. Information they recieved during the training and expected to trigger the curiosity to explore the questions/ topics in depth either through conduction news coverage or interviewing the relevant source. The implementation of decentralization policy is the realm of the government and for me it’s too early to judge whether it would be successful or not. one thing for sure that local journalist and the media has important role to ensure that this process is inclusive and would serve its purpose with among others bringing the government closer to people”.

ARKTL and its community radio and special administrative region of oecusse also produce PSA (Public Service Announcement), vox pops and talk show in tetum and baikenu (mother language from oecusse), to facilitate society and to encourage them in order to contribute to their own municipality. Ba Distrito’s activities are generously funded by the American people through the United Agency for International Development (USAID).